Asian currencies drop due to concerns about rate hikes, and stocks are down.

On Tuesday, ASIAN currencies and stocks were mixed as concerns about potential future interest rate increases by the U.S. Federal Reserve lingered, and the Thai baht was expected to have its worst month in 23 years.

The Philippine peso increased by 0.6%, but it was about to end a winning streak of four months. Malaysia's ringgit decreased 0.2%, while the Indonesian rupiah increased 0.2%.

The baht lost 0.5% of its value. The currency's decline in February was 6.4%, the largest monthly decline since September 1999.

The Bank of Thailand estimates that the economy of the nation would expand by 3% to 4% this year, and that inflation, which is presently at 5.02%, will drop to within the 1% to 3% range that the central bank had set as its target range in the second half of 2023.

The world's largest economy continues to remain strong, and recent positive economic data from the United States has increased hopes that the Fed would raise interest rates more aggressively.

The Fed will likely raise rates a third time this year by 25 basis points, and the market now anticipates a 5.4% peak in rates by September.

According to Michael Loh, Asia FX strategist at BNP Paribas, "U.S. inflation is proving to be stickier than projected, in contrast to many Asian nations where inflationary supply shocks from energy and food have passed."

"As a result, this is causing monetary policy divergence both within the area and in comparison to the United States."

Since January, most central banks in Southeast Asia have scaled back their tightening of monetary and financial conditions. The Bank of Thailand has hinted at future gradual tightening while the central bank of Malaysia surprisingly took a break.

The dollar index, which compares the value of the dollar to six other currencies, increased by 0.2% to 104.81 and is now aiming for its first monthly gain of more than 2.5% since September.

OCBC analysts maintained their belief that the upside for the dollar may be constrained as Fed tightening enters its late cycle, even though the U.S. dollar may be supported for the time being as markets re-price a higher top.

Stocks in Manila rose 0.7% to lead gains among the regional equities markets. While stocks in Jakarta and shares in Kuala Lumpur both down 0.1%, Singapore's benchmark index increased by 0.4%.

Summary:

Thailand's manufacturing production index fell by 4.35% less than anticipated in January compared to a year earlier as exports were negatively impacted by the global recession.

** Markets anticipate India's Q3 GDP numbers for fiscal year 2022–2023, which are expected to increase by 4.6% year over year from the previous quarter's 6.3%.

The possibility of a quick revision to ultra-loose monetary policy was dismissed by newly appointed Bank of Japan deputy governor Shinichi Uchida, according to Reuters.

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BCorp anticipates a positive result in FY23.

Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp) is confident that its performance will be sufficient for the remaining quarters of the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, notwithstanding the rising operational costs (FY23).

"Although the post-pandemic recovery of the global and domestic economies is gaining traction, the recent increase in global inflationary rates due to the reduction of commodity supplies and supply chain disruption as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war, Covid-19 lockdowns in China, and geopolitical tensions has hampered the economic recovery.

The conglomerate stated in a statement that, "Taking into consideration the abovementioned and barring any unforeseen circumstances," the performance of the group's business operations for the remaining quarters of FY23 will likely be satisfactory despite the strain of rising operational costs moving forward.

In the second quarter that concluded on December 31, BCorp reported a net loss of RM24.8 million compared to a net profit of RM101 million from the sale of an affiliated company that was reported in the equivalent quarter the year before.

It reported a 0.44 sen loss per share during the quarter compared to 1.77 sen in earnings per share the year prior.

Nonetheless, revenue increased 13.6% from RM2.05 billion to RM2.33 billion.

With RM4.6bil in revenue for the first six months ending December 31, BCorp reported a net loss of RM41.2mil.

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Mobile industry leaders reveal a unified interface to entice cloud developers

The largest mobile phone providers in the world revealed a new uniform interface that will give programmers access to all of their networks, accelerating the release of new services and goods.

According to an interview with GSMA Director General Mats Granryd, the gateway, called Open Gateway, will be unveiled on February 27 during the organization's annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Of the 21 GSMA members, AT&T Inc., China Mobile Ltd., Deutsche Telekom AG, and Vodafone Group Plc. will use the interface.

Granryd stated, "We have the remarkable reach out to your pocket and down to the base station. And that is what we are working to make available to the developer community so that you, either as a customer or a business owner, will ultimately profit.

Mobile network operators are abandoning a past strategy of going it alone and combining to become more appealing partners for technology giants. These companies have struggled for years to develop in competitive and saturated marketplaces. Enabling developers to create services that can run simultaneously over various networks may result in new and improved services.

The project has the support of major cloud providers, including Amazon Inc.'s AWS and Microsoft Inc.'s Azure, according to a GSMA statement released on Monday.

Over the past ten years, Internet usage has increased dramatically, but mobile operators have mostly failed to capitalize on this trend. As a result, the European Union is looking into ways to get major American technology companies to help pay for carriers' network costs. by Bloomberg

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Using education to break the cycle of poverty

Visitors during a ceremony at SJK (C) Man Ming in Gopeng, Perak, when a check was presented.

To aid disadvantaged students, three Chinese elementary schools received a total of RM30,000. Through the "Share the Love" Foundation, SJK (C) Man Ming, SJK (C) New Kopisan, and SJK (C) Lawan Kuda each received RM10,000.

According to the initiative's originator, Dr. Lee Ming Tai, 20 students from each school will receive RM500 annually to lessen the financial strain on their parents.

He claimed that education was the only way to combat poverty. He continued by saying that Tan Sri Vincent Tan, chairman of Berjaya Company Bhd, provided the monies.

Loh Chee Kee, the headmaster of SJK (C) Man Ming, hoped that the beneficiaries would live up to the standards set for them.

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Malaysia's 2023 budget deficit prediction is now estimated at 4.9 percent by Fitch Solutions.

The 2023 budget deficit forecast for Malaysia as a percentage of GDP has been reduced by Fitch Solutions Group (FSG) from 5.3 to 4.9%, which the company stated is "slightly aligned" with the government's fiscal projections.

FSG predicted that the country's revenue in 2023 would be significantly larger than it was in 2022 in its Nation Risk & Industry Research study, which was released today. In 2022, revenue collection increased by 25.9%.

The RM386.1 billion national budget for 2023 was revealed by Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on February 24. This budget proposal from the previous administration is more expansive than its RM372.3 billion budget proposal, which was never approved by Parliament since the lower house was dissolved to prepare for general elections.

The report stated that the Anwar administration "projects a budget deficit of 5.0 percent of GDP for 2023, representing a lower shortfall from a revised forecast of 5.6 percent in 2022."

According to FSG, the budget is generally expansionary, with the government outlining a number of initiatives to cut living expenses in the face of high inflation as well as more progressive taxes.

For the time being, it stated, "generally speaking, we have aligned our revenue and expenditure forecasts with the government's projections." The Bernama

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